Lisa Simpson: classic or dud?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Tireless campaigner against the dumbing down of America or rockist scum?

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Err, they're both bad qualities.

She's an annoying little prat. I remember a massive loss of respect for one of my friends when she proclaimed that she identified with Lisa profoundly, and that she's the best character on the show. I almost vomited on her.

― Andrew (enneff), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Well yes Andrew, as with the format of these c/d things, I attempt to put myself in the mindset of the way the opposing factions would voice their position.

For her bad tap dancing, I forgive her everything . Except the saxophone, obv.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 00:35 (twenty-two years ago)

She's the lizard queen.

― naked as sin (naked as sin), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 00:57 (twenty-two years ago)

She's going to be president.

― brg30 (brg30), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago)

When Lisa is not the focus of the show = Classic, as she is the spiritual and emotional advisor to the family (search "Bart Sells His Soul.")

Post-season 5(?) episodes in which Lisa is the main focus = relative dud, given her tendency to selfrighteousness. Exception being "Lost Our Lisa," which exists outside the Lisa canon, and is a dearly funny Lisa-Homer relationship episode without serious-moralizing.

― Leee (Leee), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 01:14 (twenty-two years ago)

she can see through time.

― webber (webber), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Lisa was fine until 1997 or thereabouts when, along with all the other characters, she was turned into nothing more than a cynical parody of herself by the writers and producers who exploited her most annoying traits (that shrill nagging voice, the meticulous attention to accuracy and her downright nerdyness chiefly) to horrendous levels of absurdity rendering her no longer a cute kid with a large brain

― blueski, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't watch the Simpsons but I used to and I loved Lisa. Especially in the episode with the sheep and the one where she's sad.

Maggie is cool too.

― toraneko (toraneko), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i love lisa.

― di smith (lucylurex), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:03 (twenty-two years ago)

blueski is otm; the early episode with dustin hoffman is so lovely.

― dave k, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

c: The Linguo Episode and the one where she rides the bus. The chariot of the people: Chosen mode of transportation for the poor and very poor alike! The vegetarian episode is saved by Bart and Homer and Ralph ("When I grow up I'm going to bovine university!")

― jm, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I agree w/blueski. In the earlier seasons she could be quite endearing -- "Lisa's Substitute" makes me cry every time I watch it (admittedly I am a wuss). Now she's supremely punchable. Both the episode where she becomes a vegetarian and the one where she converts to Buddhism are so unbearably preachy and self-righteous. This may be down to the overall decline in quality of the show.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i like the one where she sounds like Albert Ayler in the opening segment.

― hamish (hamish), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

but one of the morals of the vegetarian episode is that lisa is too preachy! also: you can't make friends with salad! (lisa substitute is the dustin hoffman episode and it is very tearjerking)

― dave k, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 02:52 (twenty-two years ago)

But but but Paul and Linda were meant to be cool!

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

good god no!

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 03:12 (twenty-two years ago)

i havent seen later episodes either but yes lisa was great in the early ones. so -classic
bart was always my fave though.

― donna (donna), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

(paul & linda were super creepy.)

lisa's starred in lots of classic episodes - especially the bleeding gums murphy one where he has a $1500/day faberge egg habit ("i'll tell you when i've had enough!!"). and the cosby show cameo!

i also love the dynamic between bart and lisa. you have the "is my brother dumber than a hamster?" experiment and all the brother/sister animosity ("i'm just going to kick the air like this and if you get in the way it's your fault"), but they still luv eachother and watch itchy and scratchy together.

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 03:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I like how everyone agrees on the "Lisa's Substitute" episode, as well they should. It got me as well, and made me glad I was NOT in a family situation like that. Now that's drama.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 03:54 (twenty-two years ago)

What about that episode where lisa gets cool skater friends? that was so heartbreaking -- or the one where she joins mensa?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 05:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i always think of the bleeding gums murphy dies episode as lame but it has not only the cosby show riff, but "moleman in the morning"!!!

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 06:00 (twenty-two years ago)

good moleman to you!

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 07:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Also Lisa's Wedding (the first future episode) = Classic.

Dr. & Mrs Dre College

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 10:11 (twenty-two years ago)

''i like the one where she sounds like Albert Ayler in the opening segment.''

well, there was one episode where she gets depressed because grandpa said that all simpsons go dumb, and there was one scene where she 'couldn't' play the sax, just 'noise' coming out of the horn. my brother turned to me and said: 'sounds a lot like yr stuff'. I just said: 'why is she angry, now she's playing it!'

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 10:25 (twenty-two years ago)

crackton

― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 10:38 (twenty-two years ago)

in the one where she makes skater friends, i like the part where she practices saying "like yaknow fersure" over and over and also the part where homer realizes the dud in the board game looks just like milhouse.

― dave k, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)

"stand up for yourself Poindexter!"

― blueski, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 11:20 (twenty-two years ago)

she's not as bad as Marge.
Didn't the person who does Lisa's voice star as the annoying bride in Maximum Overdrive?

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

yep.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 12:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Better was the pregnant checkout girl in City Slickers. "I'm not a little girl. I'm twenty."

― Miss Laura, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 12:21 (twenty-two years ago)

oh no! i love marge even more than lisa. how can you love the simpsons if you don't love marge?

― minna (minna), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 12:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Last night's UK terrestrial TV (I am _so_ ghetto) episode was

a) one I haven't seen before

b) the one where Lisa gets inducted into Springfield's intellectual hegemony, and they balls ruling the city up after the Joe Quimby skips town. And STEPHEN HAWKING guests. And the comix store guy wears a t-shirt in one scene that has "C:/RUN/DOS/RUN/DOS/RUN written on it. How I laughed. None of my housemates did. *sigh*

― Liz :x (Liz :x), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:25 (twenty-two years ago)

C:\dos
C:\dos\run
run\dos\run

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:30 (twenty-two years ago)

again, marge is as awful as the rest of them now but she was indeed a bastion of all that was decent and motherly prior to the very late 90s - as soon as they began to focus primarily on marge's character flaws i got turned off...

― blueski, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:30 (twenty-two years ago)

lisa could have developed into evan parker!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

"time for this hawk... to fly!"

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't get the DOS joke.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

they really flatter Steven hawking in that episode...as did Family Guy. likewise the dreaded Mel Gibson episode i caught a bit of yesterday in which his hair is jet black - hahaha, it was NEVER jet black! seems like the only characters the team can ever get away with insulting now are the FOX execs (and that joke really isnt funny anymore)

― blueski, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 13:33 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think it's fair to judge the Simpsons on the newer stuff, if we're talking about the whole canon. I dare say no-one's going to pipe up and say "post-97 Simpsons is better".

I like Lisa and Marge. I like Lisa a lot sometimes because, whether you like it or not, there are things I DO identify with. Marge is just funny. Mostly. But more than anything, Lisa is a vital counterbalance to the inanity of the rest of the family. Even if we don't like her for it, she needs to be there or the whole thing will lose a dimension it needs to make the humour and pathos work.

― Mark C (Mark C), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 15:44 (twenty-two years ago)

so basically you're saying we love to hate them ? I spose that makes sense.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

The trouble with both Lisa and Marge is that they are mostly designed to counterbalance the males, and to hold the family together. They have never been able to dominate the best episodes with the frequency and strength of Homer and Bart. This fits with the standard dynamic of sitcoms in recent decades, with the men getting most of the really funny character traits - gross stupidity, weakness, naughtiness, and so on, and the women being strong and sensible. It's hard to make that as funny.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Tuesday, 5 November 2002 20:31 (twenty-two years ago)

the whole dynamic of the family was intuitive and well placed initially - it just doesnt work anymore for me, partly because they havent been able to develop like a real family would...if it had been up to me i wouldve insisted all the characters age normally year by year as this would allow more scope for storylines AND jokes i think...i know it seems ridiculous to introduce that level of realism into a show like The Simpsons but I'd rather see Maggie graduate from high school than stil be sucking on that pacifier five years from now...the show could end for good with her marrying a Chatchiesque young buck promising they'll always be together, and they'll always be happy days - yeah!

― blueski, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 21:32 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm, ok they should have aged slower than year by year - it should really be at least 5 or 6 years on in Springfield if not the full 12...the characters do celebrate birthdays from time to time...i mean have the writing team really thought any of this through? the whole thing's descending into madness i tells ya

― blueski, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

My favorite character will always be the Flintstones talking phone.

"Yabba dabba doo! I like talking to you!"

― Curtis Stephens, Tuesday, 5 November 2002 21:50 (twenty-two years ago)

ummm... I always thought the simpsons was about jokes no? It's still as funny as fuck and I've never seen a dud episode apart from maybe the one where they find santa's little helper, but that was REALLY early so it doesn't count.

― dog latin, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 01:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Lisa's Substitute made me cwy as well.

― anthony easton (anthony), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it, but I have seen many dud episodes. I hate the singing ones, the flashback ones are cop-outs, and I can't stand the one with Kim Basinger and that Baldwin fellow.

― Fuzzy (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 09:46 (twenty-two years ago)

dud episodes for me include

frank grimes - its so awful, darkly funny at times but where's the humanity?!?! this is the 'jump the shark' episode for me

the mel gibson one - just what is the point? no charm, no real wit and hardly a satirical comment on the jaded movie stars/industry, just lameness..the bit where homer says action movies are his only escape from his family and life of drudgery (cut to the rest of the family looking all dejected and forlorn) is quite heartbreaking! and certainly not funny

the one where homer remembers finding smithers' dad's body - i had to change the channel because homer's incessant screaming was the most annoying thing i;ve ever heard in my life

the one where homer tries to kill himself then bond more with maggie - why put homer through all this ill-formed soul searching? really quite cruel...and maggie saving him from drowning is the dumbest thing ever

the one where maude dies - again, no sincerity or humanity - a deplorable cynical sweeps tactic that has added nothing to the show and remains completely pointless - if you're going to kill characters off why not age them properly as well?

the one where lisa tricks bart and homer into thinking they've got some nasty skin disease - i've never seen the two of them act so retarded

the one thats ALL musical numbers, the last two Christmas episodes, the one where Manjula has octuplets, the one with Elton John in it (valentines day) and every episode shown this year - all dire (altho the one with The Who raised a few smirks at least)....did i mention i wish they'd stop making em already?

― blueski, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Er, Hello?!?:

"So we marched day and ni-i-ight
By the old cooling towerrrrr
They had the plant
But we had the powerrrr!"

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 6 November 2002 13:47 (twenty-two years ago)

thats from one of my favourite episodes (Last Exit To Springfield) - so many great visual jokes in that one (the vultures looking just like Mr Burns etc.) - back in the golden age of 93/94 when everyone actually looked somehow cuter (bigger pupils i think)

― blueski, Wednesday, 6 November 2002 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.